In India the statement,“Rules are meant to be broken” is heard often since most of us are never bothered about following the safety rules which the Government of India has made in order to ensure road safety. Most of the time its the two-wheeler users who are least worried about their safety as well as of those walking on the sides of the roads.
Most common of the offences committed by riders is not wearing a helmet which certainly puts their lives at risk.The Supreme Court Of India has passed out a new rule making the sale of two helmet with each bike mandatory eventually leaving the buyer with ho choice but to spend a bit more than the usual price.
From now onwards a bike will not get registered until and unless the manufacturer sells an original helmet bearing a logo of itself,to the buyer. A petition filed to a Delhi High Court enlisted the appeal of not making this mandatory which the Supreme Court dismissed later.
It is supposed that this new order could actually evoke several NGO’s across India working towards ensuring road safety and same will come up with similar demands. A very interesting point made by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) on this order is the fact that forcing the consumer for buying the helmet even if they don’t want,could severely affect the sales figures.
According to a claim made by SIAM,this order would restrict the consumer from buying the helmets of their choice from the open market. To this claim justices G.S. Singhvi and A.K. Ganguly reacted bluntly and said,“If a person can buy a scooter for Rs 30,000, he can’t buy a helmet for Rs 300?”
The aim of this new rule is to avoid as many accidents as possible since most of the commuters use sub-standard helmets which come at a very cheap price and this would indirectly force them in a way to wear these safer helmets.
The new order has put an additional financial burden on the new customers but the fact about quality helmets being provided,we hope to see a safer future with least number of injuries in the near future.